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7 months ago
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Dani Alves has spoken out for the first time since leaving prison, claiming he has 'adapted' well to jail and that he is capable of 'surviving' no matter where he goes.
The shamed footballer, who has appealed a four-and-a-half year jail sentence after being found guilty of rape, was released from prison last week.
The 40-year-old paid a €1million (£850,000) bail bond to be released, with reports stating it was funded by a Brazilian magazine in exchange for an interview.
However, Alves has reportedly spoken to Spanish news outlet El Periodico about having to attend court every Friday as part of his bail agreement.
When asked what life on bail was like, Alves told El Periodico: 'It's what I have to do. Every Friday I go to court and that's it. I don't have much else to do either.'
Alves was released from prison after he appealed a four-and-a-half year jail sentence after being found guilty of rape last month
The 40-year-old paid a €1million (£850,000) bail bond to be released, with reports stating it was funded by a Brazilian magazine in exchange for an interview
Alves avoided commenting on specific details about his case but playfully quipped about the legal proceedings.
Alves said: 'The game I have to play is in the courts'. He also acknowledged the fact he has 'no idea' how long the judicial process could last.
However, Alves is confident he can survive anything challenges that are thrown his way and insisted he has what it takes to get through prison.
When asked to comment on his experience in prison so far - having been held in jail for the past 14 months - Alves said: 'Wherever I go I survive.
'I adapt to everything because for me it is not the place that makes the person, but the person that makes the place.'
The interview was said to have taken place before Alves headed to the exclusive Mr. Porter restaurant, located on the ground floor of the Sir Víctor Hotel - according to MD.
Alves was said to be wearing a white T-shirt and loose sweatpants while sitting on the table next to his friend Bruno Brasil - according to MD.
However, Alves took to Instagram shortly after the reported interview with El Periodico was released to say: 'It is not true that I granted any interview to any media outlets, nor will I grant it until the court process is resolved.'
The former footballer has returned to his £4.5m villa in the Esplugues de Llobregat district
Dani Alves appears to have been reconciled with wife Joana Sanz, 31, (pictured on holiday a few years ago) after being released from jail
Alves, who has appealed a four-and-a-half year jail sentence after being found guilty of rape last month, was released from prison after paying €1m (£850,000) bail.
Spanish journalist Marisa Martín Blazquez, speaking on Fiesta (Telecinco), reported that a Brazilian magazine paid Alves bail in exchange for an interview.
Blazquez said the Alves would have been requested to ask his model wife Joana Sanz to feature as part of the interview.
'The magazine, known in Brazil, does great reports on important people in Brazil, but also internationally,' Blazquez said. 'There are a series of requirements that must be met.
'An interview would be being conducted as a video report on Alves' story and, in addition, Alves would have asked Joana Sanz to participate in this report.
'[The payment] would have been an advance as payment for that documentary-type interview that is being done.'
Sanz revealed last year she had demanded a divorce after Alves admitted for the first time to having sex with the woman he was found guilty of raping, but claimed as he still does that the relations were consensual.
The 31-year-old brunette later said the divorce had been put on hold and she gave evidence on Alves' behalf at his trial from February 5 to 7.
Alves is on provisional release and will usually attend court hearings on Friday.
The former Barcelona player was released from Brians 2 prison a week ago after 15 months spent behind bars awaiting his trial for raping a woman in December 2022.
The 40-year-old was found guilty in February of this year and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, but Alves is in the process of appealing the verdict, and will be doing so from his own home after agreeing to a number of conditions handed out by the court.
Alves has surrended both his Spanish and Brazilian passports, and will have mandatory once-a-week visits to the court to maintain his freedom, after first paying a €1million (£850,000) bail bond.
But after doing so, the disgraced player was keen to make the most of life outside the prison walls, and is thought to have celebrated his father's recent birthday in some style.
As per Spanish TV program 'This is Life', the day after Alves was released he hosted his family and friends at his house in Esplugues de Llobregat after they had attended a dinner party in Barcelona in honour of patriarch Domingos Alves Da Silva without him.
After dinner, the party made their way to Alves' £4.5m villa, with festivities thought to continue until five o'clock in the morning.
The former defender might have been freed sooner, had he not had difficulties coming up with the money to pay his high bail.
Alves' lawyer Ines Guardiola has said the Brazilian has two bank accounts in Spain, one with no balance and the other with €51,000 (£44,000), with a judicial seizure of €50,000 (£43,000).
Guardiola claimed last year that her client 'is broke' and has a 'negative bank balance of £17,000', despite reportedly once having a fortune of £47m.
Sport reported that Alves accounts in Brazil have also been blocked due to problems with his ex-wife Dinorah Santana.
Alves, however, is expected to receive €9.2m (£7.9m) after his tax lawyer Fernando Mota won four cases against Spain's tax agency.
The hearing to determine Alves bail had noted the 40-year-old was set to receive 'a large sum of money' back from the treasury, but he has not yet received the funds.
Brazilian team-mate Neymar's dad had been expected to help Alves pay the money to secure his freedom, but he issued a statement denying he would hand over any cash after coming under political pressure in his homeland.
Memphis Depay's agent was forced to deny 'fake' claims on social media that the Atletico Madrid player had been the one to furnish Alves with the cash necessary to win his temporary freedom on Tuesday.
'This is fake news. It is false news, it is not true at all,' Sebastien Ledure told Informativos Telecinco.
Ledure also asked to 'correct at an official level' the claim, after it spread on social media on Monday.
Alves was convicted of raping a 23-year-old woman in the toilet of an upscale Barcelona nightclub, Sutton, over a year-and-a-half ago.
His lawyer Ines Guardiola has previously claimed that he is 'broke' and has a 'negative balance'
Alves was found guilty of rape and sentenced to a four-and-a-half year stay in Spanish prison
The jail sentence he received, considered lenient by some critics, was far less than the nine years public prosecutors demanded and the 12 years Alves' female accuser wanted if he was convicted.
Previous attempts from the footballer to be allowed bail had been rejected by the courts largely because he was viewed as a potential fight risk, and the player's home nation, Brazil, does not extradite citizens sentenced abroad.
His ex-wife Santana is among those to have spoken out against Alves being granted release from prison on bail.
'There are times when you will have to share the table with Judas, without that taking away your peace. Well, me today,' she wrote on Instagram.
Santana, the mother of his two children, had initially said she was standing by him and insisted he would never commit the crime he was arrested for.
The sports agent later claimed she felt she had been 'used' and told Spanish television: 'For me, he doesn't exist. For me, he has died.'
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